How Do Visual Skills Affect Reading?

Many parents ask me what they can do at home to help their child with reading skills. Schools have been stressing phonic skills (rightly so), but little is done to strengthen visual processing skills.

Reading, writing and math all require strong visual processing skills. To read fluently a child must be able to quick discriminate between letters (b/d, p/q, m/w, s/z), they must also be able to scan across a line of text without skipping up or down a line. Lastly, fluid reader have a strong visual memory for words, so once they have mastered sounding out words they build a sight vocabulary.

Spelling and letter formation require visual memory skills. Visual-spatial skills are needed for math.

All around visual skills are very important to develop. A child with weak visual skills will have to work much harder in school. The web sites below provide an assortment of visual skills. I this helps!

Here are some web sites that can provide vision activities for children that have visual issues.

Provided a variety of types of exercises:

• http://www.eyecanlearn.com/#Memory

• Visual memory games:

  • http://www.ababasoft.com/flash_games/memory_visual.html

• Games for NLD kids, includes visual

  • http://www.nldontheweb.org/Games.htm

• Rapid naming games

  • http://www.brainconnection.com/teasers/?main=bc/rn

• Game to buy for less than $20

  • http://visual-memory.qarchive.org/

• Games to play at home

  • http://www2.halton.gov.uk/pdfs/educationandlearning/sen/guidelinesdevvismemory

• Hidden pictures: printable

  • http://www.highlightskids.com/GamesandGiggles/HiddenPics/HiddenPicsPrintable/h8hiddenArchive.asp

  • http://familyfun.go.com/printables/games/printable/connect-dots-sailboat/